Mammal St-udy 



289 



have thus a practical value, they'add greatly to the animal's beauty. To 

 dock a horse's tail as an ornament is as absurd as the sliced ears and welted 

 cheeks of savages; and horses thus mutilated sufEer greatly from the 

 attacks of flies. 



Owing to the fact that wild horses made swift flight from enemies, the 

 colts could not be left behind at the mercy of wolves. Thus it is, the colt 

 like the lamb, is equipped with long legs from the first, and can run very 

 rapidly; as a runner, it could not be loaded with a big compound stomach 

 full of food, like the calf, and therefore, must needs take its nourishment 

 from the mother often. The colt's legs are so long that, in order to graze, 

 it spreads the front legs wide apart in order that it may reach the grass 

 with its mouth. When the colt or the horse lies down out of doors and in 

 perfect freedom, it lies flat upon the side. In lying down, the hind quar- 

 ters go first, and in rising, the front legs are thrust out first. 



English draft-horse. 



The horse has several natural gaits and some that are artificial. Its 

 natural methods of progression are the walk, the trot, the amble, the 

 gallop. When walking there are always two or more feet on the ground 

 and the movement of the feet consists in placing successively the right 

 hind foot, the right fore foot, left hind foot, left fore foot, right hind foot, 

 etc. In trotting, each diagonal pair of legs is alternately lifted and thrust 

 forward, the horse being unsupported twice during each stride. In 

 ambling, the feet are moved as in the walk, only differing in that a hind 

 foot or a fore foot is lifted from the ground, before its fellow fore foot or 

 hind foot is set down. In a canter, the feet are landed on the ground in 

 the same sequence as a walk but much more rapidly; and in the gallop, 

 the spring is made from the fore foot and the landing is on the diagonal 

 hind foot and just before landing, the body is in the air and the legs are all 

 bent beneath it. 



